PetalMD, Expert Co-moderator at HealthTech Connect 2018

On June 26, Patrice Gilbert, CEO of PetalMD, was invited by The Canadian Institute to participate in the HealthTech Connectevent. He was asked to share his expertise on the complexities surrounding the adoption and deployment of technological solutions for a hospital environment.

This one-day event held in Toronto, welcomed elite health technology leaders from Ontario and the rest of Canada. They all came together to share the latest technological challenges of their healthcare establishments. Participants benefited from the constructive feedback of their peers and together they came up with innovative ideas based on their experiences.

The First Part of HealthTech Connect: Roundtables

In order to enable participants to share as much information as possible about the problems that preoccupy them; the HealthTech Connect organizers adopted for an interactive roundtable approach. Each 40 minute roundtable featured a discussion topic animated by a moderator and co-moderator acting as experts. The rotating format of these roundtables allowed the participants to openly discuss various issues and problems with other participants.

Accompanied by the Vice President of Digital Health Informatics, Yoel Robens-Paradise, from BC Providence Healthcare, Patrice Gilbert was designated as the expert co-moderator to lead the roundtable on: "Looping in on Patient Portals to Promote Efficiency and Accessibility". Patrice was able to add to the discussion by providing insights from his 10 years of collaborative experience with PetalMD users divided in more than 150 hospitals.

Several elements emerged during this roundtable, including challenges regarding the accessibility of information by patients, particularly about how to get timely progress reports from their medical records. In addition to this were various questions concerning data security for patient information, the effectiveness of new patient directed technologies and their interoperability with existing systems.

PetalMD: Expert in Health Technology Deployment and Change Management

Deploying a health technology solution across a hospital department involves an action plan that can take several weeks to implement. It can become even more complex when it is deployed in a large establishment, such as a hospital or a whole network of healthcare facilities. And this is without mentioning that the staff, the future users of these solutions, may be reluctant to learn a new system.

PetalMD also stands out in the deployment and management of complex technological solutions, which only adds to the relevance of its presence at HealthTech Connect. PetalMD has a dedicated deployment team that fully equip and also guides the hospital stakeholders responsible for managing the project. From the very first meeting, the project manager feels supported and reassured, allowing him or her in turn to reassure their team(s). The adaptation period is usually short, because the interface is friendly and intuitive which makes learning easier.

Taking into account the reality of each group, department, hospital and/or network, the PetalMD team offers a personalized support plan for each step of the deployment process. Here is an overview of the steps:

Setting up the deployment plan

Deadlines agreements

Gathering information on the group(s)/department(s)

Configuration of the information collected

Tests and adjustments

Staff training

Support and technical support service 24/7

The skills and expertise of the PetalMD deployment team allows to implement its solution for important health networks within a short period of time.

Deployment record for PetalMD:

A hospital department: 2 hours

A medical clinic: 2 weeks

A hospital: 1 month

A health network (with 7 hospitals): 6 months

As one of Canada's leading digital health leaders with more than 37, 000 physician users; PetalMD enjoys sharing its knowledge and helping the market it serves through participation in innovative events like HealthTech Connect.